The Werewolf Registry
by takoda40
Summary: Sometimes Remus Lupin has to visit the place he has always avoided. My take on how the Ministry monitors werewolves.
1. Discovery and Explanations

The step from first year to second year potions was not too great, which was something that Remus was rather grateful for. Not that he was particularly awful at the subject, but it didn't come quite as naturally to him as most of the wand waving classes, and it certainly didn't come as naturally to him as it did to Lily Evans and Severus Snape, or even James and Sirius. Today's potion however was fairly straight forward, a refresher of one they had learnt last year in fact. Deep in thought Remus was gazing down at his hands, as he chopped his roots, and at Peters. At least he was confident using a knife he supposed.

Suddenly the quiet atmosphere of the classroom was shattered as Peter gave a short squeak of pain, and Remus pushed his chair back loudly. Most of the class stared at him, he had gone extremely pale suddenly, and seemed to be staring in horror at Peter's cut finger. Professor Slughorn bustled over and bandaged the small cut with a lazy swish of his wand.

"Sorry Professor," Remus blushed as he realised everyone was staring at him, "I needed to go and get more…" He turned round and fled to the ingredients cupboard without further explanation. His three friends exchanged confused glances, and shrugged. By the time Remus had finished fiddling around in the cupboard and returned to his seat, most of the class had forgotten the strange incident, but his friends he knew would want an explanation.

* * *

All too soon the lesson was over, and as the second year Gryffindors and Slytherins left the classroom, Remus was thinking about his evening; library to make a start on his homework, and then dinner. However, as he looked towards his friends, to ask if anyone was going to accompany him, he saw them exchanging glances.

"What sort of werewolf is afraid of blood?" was certainly not the question Remus had expected to come out of Sirius' mouth, and from the other two's glares, it probably wasn't what they had expected either. He froze. It had been something that Remus had been dreading hearing for the last year and a half, and he still had no idea how he should react.

"I don't know what you mean. Now I need to go to the library" and he speed off. He knew that his voice had come out as a squeak, and that his reaction was as good as admitting guilt, but he simply didn't know what else to do. He headed to the library for a while, until he realised that now that his 'friends' knew, the chances of him ever getting to hand that homework in were rather slim, so there was little point doing it. Instead, he headed into the grounds. He walked past the tree where they had all sat last summer, and down to the lake, where he paced for a while. Eventually he headed away, just wanting to walk.

As the Whomping Willow came into sight he scowled at the group of stupid students crowded round it, trying to run to the centre. It was something all the students knew happened, and half the teachers, but no one had been hurt yet to there was nothing that really could be done to stop them. Remus in particular hated it, but for different reasons. If anyone was to get hurt, it would be his fault. His scowl deepened further when he noticed three more people heading towards the tree, three people he was very familiar with. He started walking towards the tree although he had no idea why, he was out here to avoid them, and now he was going over to confront them.

Just as he reached the outside of the group, a silence fell. Looking at the tree, Remus saw a body lying on the ground, unconscious. It was Davey Gudgeon, a Hufflepuff in his year, who worked across from him in Herbology, and he was still in range of the tree.

Without thinking Remus flicked a stone at the tree with his wand, only a short hit to the knot, enough to ensure that the tree was still long enough for someone to get Davey out, but not too long that people wondered why the tree had stopped. When no one else moved to help, Remus realised he was the only one who knew the tree was safe, so he was the one who would have to drag Davey out.

Once he was out of the range of the tree, people seemed to come alive. As Remus touched the bleeding head and face to assess the injuries, someone shouted that they would run to Madame Pomfrey. His three friends approached him cautiously.

"Remus, are you okay?" Peter asked hesitantly. Remus seemed to come awake, as he looked down and realised his hands were covered in blood.

"Peter, you need to go and get Professor Dumbledore" was all Remus would say.

"But someone has already gone for Madame Pomfrey"

"Just go" James had seen the look on Remus' face. He really didn't look well, all the blood had gone from his face again, and if you looked carefully he was shaking slightly.

Dumbledore arrived first, and after quickly surveying the scene, turned to Remus.

"Are you hurt?" he asked the boy.

"No, none of its mine" was the answer, accompanied by raised bloody hands.

"Well then we'd better go", and with that the headmaster turned, gave a nod to the just arriving nurse, and strode off towards the front gates, Remus following quickly behind. The group who remained looked at each other, very confused.

* * *

Remus knew that by the time he returned after dinner, people would have decided where he had gone with the Headmaster, so he was very glad that the common room was empty as he slipped through on his way to the dormitory.

"You still shouldn't have sprung it on him like that Sirius" Remus could hear James talking through the door as he approached.

"I'm sorry, I just don't like the fact that he's been lying to us for well over a year" was the muffled reply.

"Unless he hasn't been a werewolf all this time?" At Peter's interjection Remus opened the door and walked in.

"Actually I've been a werewolf since I was four" he admitted as the other three stared at him. "Where do people think I went this afternoon?"

"Other than some strange ones about Dumbledore being your father, the most popular opinion is that you are scared of blood, and Dumbledore took you away to have a fit, or panic attack or something. What actually happened?" Sirius was never subtle.

Remus didn't really reply, although he seemed to be satisfied with that explanation. He move into the bathroom and took off his top, knowing the others would follow him. Once it was off he pointed his wand at his shoulder, the same one with the massive scar where he had been bitten many years ago. His friends were shocked, they had never seen Remus topless, and his scars, but supposed now they knew there was no point in hiding them anymore.

"Revireco" Remus mumbled, pointing at his shoulder. "Reviresco" He amended, and suddenly there was writing on his shoulder.

"Have you heard of the werewolf registry? Well these are my records" Remus began bitterly.

On his shoulder, he could see in the mirror, was three dates, one of them that day's. They were a poisonous green, but that was better, he knew, than the burning red they had been earlier that afternoon.

"The ministry decided that to keep werewolves out of trouble they needed to monitor them, and to do that they can monitor when we come into contact with human blood. You have seven non-moon chances, and no full moon chances, before they imprison you for transformations. Today when I went to the registry with Dumbledore the ink was red, and we had to explain everything to the officer before he would return it to green.

"That one" he pointed viciously at the first date "was when I got bitten. That one", the second one, "was when I was five, and my neighbour fell out of a tree. I tried to help him, and didn't understand why I suddenly felt sick. My father took me that time, although I didn't understand why. After that he explained that blood was bad for me, and if it touched me I would have to go back. Apart from my own, I've come in contact with that enough on the nights of full moons. And this one is new", today's date.

"Badizo" he muttered and the numbers faded. He stopped staring at his arm, and turned to his friends, suddenly nervous of their reaction, unsure whether he should have told them so much.

When they just stayed silent, staring at him, he sighed, walked back into the dormitory, and collapsed onto his bed. Next thing he knew not one but three people had bundled onto his bed, in a sort of hug he supposed. It was awkward, odd, and a little painful, but that was general way with his friends, and he wouldn't want it any different.

His friends had accepted his for what he was, and that was enough to make Remus smile. Even during the next few weeks, as people laughed at his fear of blood, and Slytherins flicked tomato sauce at him, the smile would not budge. He had his friends, no matter what.


	2. Prefect Patrol

Remus and Lily walked in companionable silence through the quiet corridors of the first floor as they completed the final hour of their prefect patrol. Close friends and study buddies since Lily had come to Remus asking if he was a werewolf, not long after his other friends had broken the news that they knew to him, this year they had become closer, sitting together in most classes, because Remus had put up with his friends distractions for long enough, and because Lily had had a major fallout with Severus Snape, her best friend, at the end of last year. Besides their fondness for learning they had other things in common, most clearly, that they were both outsiders in the Wizarding World, although as Remus occasionally felt, a muggle-born was more part of society than a werewolf.

They understood each other, and shared their worries. Remus knew how worried Lily was about her parents, as the number of attacks on muggles, particularly those with magical children, was increasing weekly. Lily knew all about Remus' worries for his future after Hogwarts, when he would no longer be a student, but simply a werewolf, and his prospects seemed grim. Remus also knew about Lily's worries for Severus Snape, the ex-best friend, who seemed to be getting into the wrong crowd, a dark crowd that were suspected to be planning on joining the ranks of Lord Voldemort when they left school, although there was no evidence, so nothing that Professor Dumbledore could do.

So far it had been an easy patrol but as they reached the final stretch of corridor before they could head upstairs back to bed, they heard noise up ahead. Both drew their wands.

"Who's there?" Lily began, "We're prefects, so you should come out, or we'll deduct house points." The two shared a grimace as they realised how awful the line that they were told to say sounded.

* * *

Remus woke up with a throbbing head. In his routine mental check for injuries caused by the full moon, he realised he didn't have any. He was pretty sure it had only been full moon a week ago anyway, and he vaguely remembered being on prefect patrol. To try and gain more evidence to help him piece things together he opened his eyes.

He was in the hospital wing, and Lily was sat up in the bed next to him with her right shoulder in bandages.

"You're awake," she smiled as she saw his eyes open, "Madame Pomfrey was getting worried."

"What happened?" and he tried to sit up, although quickly gave that up, as his head span more.

"We were on patrol, and we heard someone up ahead, do you remember that? Well" she continued as Remus gave a slight nod of his head, "there were four of them, and they came out fighting. We duelled, but then one of them hit a suit of armour and used it to clobber you round the head with. I was hit in the shoulder, and then stunned. Someone found us both this morning, and brought us here. Madame Pomfrey hasn't healed your head yet, because you kept shaking, so she was worried it was worse than just a hit on the head."

Remus frowned, other than great pain in his head, he felt fine, and he was quite an expert at not okay. Then it hit him, though not with quite as much force as the armour.

"What did they hit your shoulder with?"

"A cutting curse of sorts, why?"

"So you were bleeding?" he clarified. At Lily's confused nod, he looked round for his wand, and after pulling himself into a sitting position to grab it, pointed it at his shoulder.

"Reviresco" he muttered, and once again writing blossomed over his shoulder, which was only partially covered by the hospital pyjamas he had been changed into. Sure enough the numbered were blood red. "Badizo", he had seen enough.

"What was that?" Lily asked.

"The ministry monitors bad werewolves by monitoring when they come into contact with human blood, and if they can't explain it, they must be dangerous."

"Does it work?"

"No, the ones who are really bad don't register, and the good ones have to go and face that humiliation for simple things like trying to help an injured friends" Remus practically spat the last bit. "Did you say you'd spoken to Dumbledore?"

Lily looked at him in shocked silence, in all her research on werewolves; she had never been able to find details on how the registry worked, and she had never imagined it would be like that. "Not yet."

"Good, he must be on his way then."

As if he had been summoned by Remus' words, at that moment the headmaster arrived. He looked at the two students and seemed to assess the situation perfectly.

"I have questions for both of you about what happened last night, but am I correct in thinking that you need to go to London Remus? In that case I will take you there now, do you need me to stay this time?"

Remus shook his head, and started to get to his feet.

"Would it help if I was to come too? It was my blood after all, so would it help your case?"

"Not sure whether it'll help, but I wouldn't mind company, if Dumbledore is will to let us both off school grounds?" With this he looked at the headmaster, who shrugged, a small smile on his face.

"Maybe there is something I can do for your head Remus" he waved his hand over Remus' head. "I think I've got rid of the concussion, but you'll still have a bit of a headache, and when you return, you should probably oblige Madame Pomfrey by letting her fuss over you."

* * *

Once they were out of the school grounds Dumbledore side-along apparated the two students, appearing in what looked to most people like a perfectly normal street in London. Lily looked rather green, but considering she had told them it was her first time apparating, both Remus and the headmaster were quite impressed.

"I must say I rather fancy visiting that tea-shop, which is where you'll find me when your business is finished." And with that Dumbledore turned round and disappeared into the café.

Remus led Lily to the door of the 'wild dog containment company' offices.

"Is this the entrance to the Ministry of Magic?" Lily asked, sounding a little let down.

"Oh no, this is just the entrance to the Registry, nice and anonymous, but they isn't why they do it; it's a segregation technique. The main entrances are through the telephone box round the corner, and the public toilets down the street. Now when we get in there, don't use names. It's another way of keeping things anonymous."

"Won't you need to tell them your name though?"

"My name is on a list in the Beasts and Beings department somewhere in the ministry proper. Beyond that, my records are here." He gestured to his shoulder. He took a deep breath, and walked in the door.

* * *

Inside was dark and uninviting, and Lily gripped hold of the hand Remus had offered her. Remus walked over to a door labelled 'red zone' and pushed through. It seemed to be a waiting room, but there was no-one else in there.

"Good" Remus said as he went to one of the hard seats by the wall. "When there's more than one person it's a bit of a free for all, they don't seem to bother with appointments or anything."

Despite not having seen another soul since they arrived, the pair was sat there for at least thirty minutes, before a tall man with a weasel face stuck his head in and shouted "Next."

The room they entered, Lily could only describe as an interrogation room.

"Records" the man said looking faintly disgusted at the hands that were still entwined. Remus took his top off and pointed to his shoulder.

"Reviresco. Veritaserum" the man held out a small bottle, as Lily gasped. The man sneered. "Didn't tell your girlfriend about that did you."

Remus turned his head slightly and shook it at Lily, before releasing his left hand from hers, to take a drop of the potion handed to him. It made his already sore head spin like mad.

"When did you come in contact with human blood?"

"The two of us were out for a walk last night and were attacked. I can't actually remember, as I suffered quite a blow to the head, but we both ended up unconscious, and she was bleeding. We stayed that way until we were found this morning."

Lily was gazing at him with mild dismay.

"May I see the wound?" the man asked, no more polite to her than he was to Remus.

She unwound the bandages, to show five deep gashes on her shoulder.

"Those look suspiciously like claw marks to me."

"It is nowhere near the full moon, so how on earth could I have done that." Remus' voice was almost level, but Lily was looking at him strangely again. Normally people on Veritaserum spoke in completely monotonous voices.

Again the man looked at Lily, leering this time. "Shouldn't you be at school young lady?"

"She should" Remus began, but catching the pleading look in his eye Lily jumped in.

"I should be, but I wanted to see Re... him, and he's home schooled. Sometimes I run away from school just to spend time with him. Please don't tell my parents, they don't know"

Remus agreed "Her parents have no idea".

* * *

"Remus Lupin, since when were you able to lie through Veritaserum?" Lily announced once they were out in the fresh air.

Remus took a deep breath of the fresh air, it was good for clearing away the last effects of the potion, and made the spinning of his head slow considerably.

"I never actually lied, just chose how much of the truth I wanted to tell-"

"You got angry at that man, and you should really have been aware what you were saying anyway."

"I really don't know, I discussed this with Dumbledore last time, and we concluded either I have a natural talent for lying, or it's to do with being a werewolf, and not a single one of us has ever seen fit to tell the Ministry that it doesn't work on us."

Lily bit her lip in thought, "I would go for the second one; it's not as if the Ministry deserve to know after how they treat you. You don't seem to be a natural born liar anyway. Well this certainly has been an experience."

And with that they turned to find Dumbledore.


	3. Harry

In the Order of the Phoenix jobs were assigned to the younger members in pairs. James and Sirius were partners, as their fighting complemented each other completely, and of course they understood each other perfectly. Remus and Lily also were paired, and although they also fought well together, their speciality lay in research. Particularly at the moment, Remus thought as he looked around the cosy sitting room of Godric's Hollow which was sprawled with books from where the pair were pulling an all-nighter, trying to find anything that could explain the magic behind the dark mark symbols. Not that he minded, like everyone else he was glad that Lily was safe at home, considering she was eight months pregnant!

"Remus, I need a drink."

With a dramatic sigh, and rolling his eyes, in a way that both knew he didn't really mean, he pulled himself out of the chair he had been in for the last four hours, and walked stiffly to the kitchen. He set the muggle kettle to boil with a wave of his wand, because that was how Lily liked her water boiled, and was just getting out the mugs when there was a gasp of pain from the living room. Grabbing his wand, although what he expected he had no idea, he rushed into the next room.

"My water just broke! The baby's coming."

For a moment Remus stood in shock, until an almost growl from Lily spurred him into action. First of all he sent a patronus to James, wherever he was, telling him to come home immediately. Next thing was to get a healer. He knew that the plan was to use the Potters family healer, the same woman who had delivered James into the world, but for the life of him, Remus had no idea who she actually was, and how to contact her.

"You'd think James would leave instructions" he grumbled very quietly under his breath, as he searched through the papers on the notice board in the kitchen in the hope of finding something. "Lily do you know how to contact the healer?" She shook her head, and gave him The Look, "I'll just get someone from Saint Mungo's then."

By the time he had returned through the floo with Healer Swan in tow, Lily had gone upstairs to the bedroom.

* * *

The labour was going quickly and well the healer said, although Remus was not sure, as Lily seemed in a lot of pain.

He realised that he was stood awkwardly in the doorway. Oh why, after months of hovering over their shoulders as they tried to research was James out, tonight of all nights.

Lily was clenching her fists so tightly that she had drawn blood on the palm of her hands, so Remus went over and offered his hand for crushing.

After a long night the baby was finally born, and the healer handed him; it was a him; to Remus.

"Congratulations, you're a father!"

"Oh no, not me, I... I" Remus stuttered, still in shock at the child in a arms.

Of course that was the moment James and Sirius burst in, Peter following behind. They stopped short at the shape in Remus' arms.

"We missed it," James said in a forlorn tone. "I'm so sorry," to Lily. He approached her and kissed her on the head, "he's beautiful."

Once he was in range, Lily slapped him, "for being late," then kissed him back. "You haven't even looked at him properly you know."

"We'll he's obviously going to look as striking as our Prongsie here, so of course he'll be beautiful!" Sirius could not take the massive grin off his face.

At a look from Lily, Remus handed the baby over to her. She inspected it closely, and smile.

"We've decided to call him Harry." She said turning to Remus to watch his reaction. He looked down at his hands, as emotion filled him.

"I need to go to the ministry," he suddenly announced.

"Oh come on Remus, surely it can wait until tomorrow," Sirius admonished, as Peter suggested just one drink first.

"It needs to be in the next 24 hours, and if I don't leave now I'll never want to go" he raised his hands imploringly, showing them his palms. Lily was the first to get it.

"Oh Merlin, I'm sorry," she gasped.

"Don't worry," Remus glanced at the thoroughly confused looking healer. "I'll go now."

"Do you want any of us to come?" Sirius, upon working it out, had finally sobered.

"No, don't worry, you can start the drinking without me."

* * *

Remus realised that even the dark gloomy atmosphere of the werewolf registry could dampen his spirits today. Other than the fact that he was there, everything was good. He didn't even have to wait long before a short plump man beckoned him through to the interrogation room.

The man waited until Remus had removed his shirt and taken a drop of the veritaserium before he spoke.

"You seem a lot more smiley than most people who come here," he questioned with a slight smile on his own face.

"My best friend just had a baby, last night. That's kind of why I'm here, she clenched her fists and drew blood, so I offered my hands as a substitute. They named him after my grandfather, who I was close with, and always wished I could name my child after, but me having a child is rather unlikely isn't it." Remus didn't even try to stop the words from spilling out. He began babbling on about the baby, and how the healer had mistaken him for the father, as the actual one had arrived late. Eventually the man held up his hand to stop the flow.

"There" he said as he tapped Remus' shoulder with his wand, returning the red to green, although no new date appeared. Remus gaped in shock. "Go and celebrate with your friends, before I change my mind."

As Remus slipped on his shirt and left the room he smiled. Today was a very good day.


	4. THAT Halloween

Remus woke that morning in pain. As he sat up he realised it wasn't physical pain, and as the memories of the day before came flooding back it all made sense. Yesterday he had gone to see Sirius. He had asked, no begged, to be allowed to see James and Lily, but Sirius, their secret keeper, had denied him, and arguing had followed.

"Honestly I'm not sure I know you Remus. Someone is feeding information to the deatheaters, and considering what you are... James and Lily happen to agree, and they really don't want to see you. Why they ever let you near Harry is beyond me."

No physical blows had been exchanged, but those words had knocked the breath out of him. Sadly he wasn't surprised that Sirius thought all of that, but the idea that James and Lily would agree hurt. Two of the first people to ever just accept him regardless of his condition. Lily, who was the only person ever to treat him completely the same after discovering him. James, who had thought of the idea of becoming animagi to help him.

And Peter? Remus knew for a fact that he had been to see Harry the week before, so he had been deemed trustworthy. Did he too doubt Remus' loyalties?

Remus was just getting up when he heard a call from his floo fireplace.

"Remus" Albus looked grave as he stepped out of the grate. "Have you heard?"

Filled with sudden dread, Remus shook his head.

"Last night Lord Voldemort got into Godrics Hollow. Harry survived."

Despite his shock Remus noticed that even Dumbledore could not bring himself to say that the Potters were dead.

"Can I... I need to go there."

"The fidelius charm will have fallen."

Again through his shock he felt sudden anger that the headmaster knew that he had been excluded from his friends life, and had not put in a good word for him.

"Even I was not sure Remus, I am so sorry. Now it is clear though that Sirius was the one we should have been suspicious of."

Yet another regret to add to Remus' list- without his selfish interference his friends might still be alive. He had no doubt that it was his visit yesterday that had tipped Sirius over the edge. He ran to the door, and apparated to the cottage.

* * *

He stepped into the cottage and there was James. Lifeless, James-less, empty. Remus could see he didn't even have his wand. It was so James to try and take on the Dark Lord without even a weapon if it would buy his family some time.

Remus walked up to the stairs to Harry's bedroom. That was the only room with its landing door open. As he looked round he tried to remember the happy times they had spent there, trying to get Harry to sleep; playing with the baby; Padfoot curling up in the cot, not that Remus wanted to think about him. Anything was better than looking at the floor where Lily lay. It was clear that she had given her life for Harry, but that didn't make it hurt less. Remus had seen her sleeping many times, in the common room when she fell asleep over homework; in seventh year when she finally decided to give James a chance, and they would fall asleep together on the sofas by the fire; in the living room of that very house, during their intensive research periods. But this looked nothing like sleeping, there was too much stillness. Lily didn't have her wand either.

He couldn't cry. Maybe that meant that Sirius had been right, that he was a monster. In the last twenty four hours he had lost three of the most important people in his life, but the truth was he had lost them before that - Sirius when he had chosen to follow his family into darkness, and the other two when they had allowed him to sow seeds of doubt in their minds.

It was just him and Peter left now.

Someone had obviously been there, and anyway it was clear what had happened. Remus needed to move the bodies, put them in the bed, make them look less empty, a little bit more natural.

As Remus Lupin placed the bodies of two of his best friends into their bed, in London a hysterical Sirius Black was arrested by the aurors.

"Remus" the voice startled him, he hadn't heard the headmaster approaching. "I'm afraid I have yet more bad news to deliver." Remus doubted it could make his day any worse. "Sirius has been arrested in London, but not before killing 13 muggles, and Peter."

Okay, maybe his day could get worse.

Peter was gone.

In London.

With a last look towards the Potters in their bed, he left the remains of the house, and apparated to the place he knew the show down would have happened.

* * *

The street to most people was not important. It was a small alley, about as far away from Diagon Alley as London could get. However, just round the corner was a small pub, which was where the four marauders had drunk after James had proposed to Lily (and a little bit before he did too); where they had gone for the stag night; where they had gone to get drown sorrows when the Potters had their first married argument; where they had gone to drink the night after Harry had been born; and many other times in between. It was where Remus had gone last night after his argument with Sirius, to remind himself of all those times when the four of them had seemed invincible.

Therefore it did not surprise Remus when he appeared to find a crime scene, no surprise that both Peter and Sirius had both gone there before him.

It did not help him though, seeing the destruction did not help him find any peace. Maybe seeing Peter's body would have helped, but that was doubtful as it hadn't with James and Lily. Either way, looking around he realised that the chances of a body being in one piece was highly unlikely.

A hand came down on his shoulder, and he looked once again into the blue eyes of Dumbledore. Again he felt a stir of anger, did the old fool have nothing better to do that to follow him around, but this time it was only faint. He wasn't really feeling anything anymore, just complete numbness.

"Remus, we need to get you out of here."

He looked down at himself and almost laughed, he was still in his pyjamas, still barefoot.

"We're going to need to pay a visit to the registry I think."

Now he thought about it, he had been standing there for long enough, and his feet were bare, and Sirius had done a rather good job at destroying people.

Fortunately everyone was very happy about Voldemort's defeat, even in the werewolf registry. With Albus Dumbledore by his side, Remus was let off without having to explain, which was a very good thing, as he didn't think he could put any of the events of the day into words, even with the tongue loosening effects of veritaserium.

After that Albus brought him to the school hospital wing- there was no way he should be left alone, and Madame Pomfrey always had enjoyed mothering him, no matter how old he got.

* * *

"How is he doing?" Minerva asked Albus a few days later.

"Still in shock I think, although starting to come to terms with everything. I'm just trying to keep the Ministry off his back for a bit longer. " at her shocked look, "they want him in for questioning about the deaths of James and Lily Potter."

"Why? Remus would never have anything to do with that."

"We know that, but the ministry doesn't. He was just as much a friend of Black's as he was of the Potters. Besides the Ministry is naturally prejudiced, due to his condition."

"Well then they know nothing. Anyone who spent any time with that lot would know that no matter what Remus Lupin is, he is not a murderer, and that he would never do anything to hurt any of the others, particularly Lily Evans."

* * *

If only Remus could have heard his old teachers words, it might have helped at little in the next few days, through the interrogation, the allegations, of crimes that he could still not yet fully comprehend.

That Halloween the wizarding world celebrated. Lord Voldemort was gone, so many lives saved. A few mourned that passing of Lily and James Potter, fewer still that of Peter Pettigrew. Remus however was not relieved. He had lost everything and everyone. The world was saved, but his world was ended.


	5. The Prisoner of Askaban

Remus sat down slowly at his desk, his eyes fixed on the map in front of him. He was watching three of his students go out of bounds, down to Hagrid's hut, just as he had expected them to. As a teacher he probably should go and tell them off, but even coming to the end of the year, Remus was still not quite used to this teacher idea.

He wasn't sure why Dumbledore had chosen to ask him of all people to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts this year, but it probably had something to do with Sirius Black. Depending on his mood he changed his mind between Dumbledore wanting to keep him safe from the fugitive; Dumbledore thinking that having Remus at Hogwarts would provide Harry with extra protection; or Dumbledore wanting to keep him close and preoccupied, to keep him from being the mess that he had been after THAT Halloween.

After the first full moon Madame Pomfrey had kept him in her hospital wing for three weeks, and although he had been physically well for most of the second two weeks he had barely even noticed. After he had left he found a small cottage in a small village and started making his name as the village recluse. The only person who had any contact with him was Madame Pomfrey, who he allowed to visit each month, and even Remus himself could not remember what he had done for the first five years he had been there. After five years he had snapped out of his trance like state, and actually willing left the house. He got jobs, a spot of private tutoring here, a stint in a muggle bookshop there, and he was finally alive again. Or at least he thought that was living until Dumbledore he turned up that day in July and asked him to teach at Hogwarts.

And now here he was at the far end of the school year, and he had really enjoyed it. Maybe it was Hogwarts working her magic on him again, but he felt like he was safe again, despite his murderous ex-best friend on the loose.

He looked back at the map on his desk, and froze.

* * *

The map never lies. The map never lies. But Peter was dead. Unless...

Remus sped up as he rushed down to the Whopming Willow. Sirius was in there with Harry, but somehow that didn't seem as important as getting answers.

* * *

He heard Hermione's shout and followed it to the master bedroom, where a very strange scene greeted him. Harry had his wand pointed at Sirius Black's heart; where, for some reason, a cat sat. Hermione was by the door, looking terrified, and Ron was on the bed looking ill, with what looked like a broken leg, and holding a squirming rat. A rat?

"Expelliarmus!" Remus shouted.

"Where is he, Sirius?" He asked, needing to check, needing to know.

When the man on the floor pointed at the bed, Remus' heart leaped. Peter was alive, not everyone had been taken from him. But why had Peter hidden. He thought this through and realised, if Peter had been the one.

When Sirius nodded at him he realised he had been thinking aloud.

But that meant-

He walked over to the man on the floor and pulled him up. Sirius quickly checked his hand before letting Remus take it, checking that none of the blood from his nose was on it.

"They never doubted you. Lily refused to speak to me after I suggested it was you." Sirius whispered quickly and quietly into Remus' ear.

Remus was filled with emotion, at the simple way that Sirius had remembered about the blood thing, and at what he had just been told. Suddenly it wasn't his fault, he hadn't been the one to set events in motion, and James and Lily had always trusted him. He stored the emotion away for later, as he had taught himself to do; emotion often was stronger with time, and feeling, he knew now, was a very good thing.

The moment was broken by Hermione's scream. "I DON'T BELIEVE IT!" In that moment Remus realised she had found him out.

"You - you -"

"Hermione -" but she wouldn't listen. She, unlike James and Lily, had made an assumption because of what he was, although if he was honest, his actions in the last few minutes hardly helped the matter.

And then Harry joined in.

"I trusted you. And all this time you've been his friend!"

"You're wrong" he started a little desperate now.

"NO! Harry, don't trust him, he's been helping Black get into the castle, he wants you dead too - he's a werewolf!"

There it was. The accusation. It hurt , particularly the way it was delivered. He stored that pain away as well, he would need to get these out soon, before the full moon, otherwise it would be a long night.

Outwardly he remained calm, if a little pale.

"Not up to your usual standard Hermione, only one out of three I'm afraid."

Ron had the look in his eyes that Remus had always expected but was yet to really see. The fear of the wizard who has been brought up with the full prejudices of the wizarding world. Hermione could only begin to hate him as much as that.

Ron tried to get up, putting pressure on his injured leg. Remus made towards him, he knew at least how to alleviate the pain. But Ron shied away, uttering the dreaded words "Get away from me, werewolf!"

Store the pain. Change the subject. Or at least divert it a little.

"How long have you known?"

To be honest after Snape had set that essay, he was surprised not more people had worked it out.

Harry was yelling again. "AND HE WAS WRONG! YOUVE BEEN HELPING HIM ALL THIS TIME!" A jab in Sirius' direction.

"I have not been helping Sirius. If you'll give me a chance, I'll explain. Look-" and he threw the three their wands. It was a gamble, but Harry hadn't been able to throw a single jinx at Sirius when he thought the man had killed his parents, so he probably wouldn't hurt them. Besides they were more likely to listen if didn't feel helpless.

He explained about the map and what he had seen on it. They told the children they were looking for Peter Pettigrew.

As the children exclaimed in shock Remus felt Sirius beside him getting impatient. He lunged at Ron and Remus had to drag him off. "And Harry - you owe Harry the truth, Sirius!" Not subtle, but the man had always had a soft spot when it came to his godson.

At least they were listening now, even after Remus had got his wand out again, ruining the point of them being armed and him not being. As he launched into the painful story of his life Hermione even stopped Ron from interrupting.

But when he got to the part about Snape discovering him, there was an even bigger interruption, Severus Snape himself.

* * *

Severus was even less likely than the children to listen to the story of Sirius' innocence, and before long Remus was tied up on the floor.

Suddenly Remus remembered something that Snape had said, about his potion. He couldn't quite remember what day the full moon was, other than just sometime this week. He couldn't remember how many times he'd already taken the potion this week, or even what day of the week it actually was. A part of him desperately wanted to run up to his office to check, although a larger part wanted to stay and explain, whilst either way he didn't really have any choice considering he was tied up on the floor.

He was having trouble concentrating, probably because his mind was still spinning from the evenings revelations.

Suddenly all the emotion he'd stored away came flooding back, and he had to force himself to keep it in, to not start sobbing with joy or pain.

Suddenly there was a loud bang, and he opened his eyes to see the three children frozen in shock, wands out. To of the corner of his eye he could see Snape on the ground and Sirius bending over him. Sirius had picked up the wand, and went over to free Remus.

"Thank you, Harry," he said. Harry had been the one shouting at Snape the most.

The explaining continued, with less interruptions than before. Things were falling into place for Remus as well as the children.

And then Peter was stood before them.

"Well, hello, Peter. Long time, no see."

On the outside he was calm, but inside he was seething. Seeing the man in front of him, made him actually want to kill. Maybe it was closer to the full moon than he thought.

"Remus!" Peter squeaked, writhing on the floor in front of him. "You don't believe this... Wouldn't Sirius have told you they'd changed the plan?"

"Not if he though I was the spy, Peter. I assume that's why you didn't tell me, Sirius?" He was making light of their last encounter, but Sirius understood.

"Forgive me, Remus."

"Not at all, Padfoot, old friend. And will you in turn forgive me for believing you were the spy?"

"Of course."

And with those words the friendship that had been irreparably torn that day before THAT Halloween, was healed.

"Shall we kill him together?"

Sirius preparing to murder the traitor was no surprise, particularly as Askaban seemed to have stolen most of the little sanity he had ever had. However Remus found himself agreeing, not something he would normally ever accept.

When Harry reasoned that his father wouldn't have liked it, Remus thought not of James but of Lily, and lowered his wand. Still a small part of him howled at the lost opportunity.

As they went out of the shack he chose to be one of Peters guards, to ensure the man didn't escape.

* * *

Remus woke up in his bed in his rooms. He ached and he knew exactly why. Last night he had forgotten the full moon. He had endangered three of his students, not to mention Snape, Sirius and anyone else who might have been outside. It was just a good thing he had had plenty in his mind- the moon must have risen when they were in the shack, probably during the time he was tied up on the ground, he thought looking back.

The way it worked was that from the moment the moon come up the wolf was released. That was why he had nearly murdered Peter. He could control it, mostly, particularly with the potion, but as the moon rose it would be harder. Either way nowadays he could hold the actual transformation back until the moon reached its peak, as long as he didn't think about it too much, or allow moon light to hit him. Like last night.

He looked round his rooms, trying to work out how he had ended up there, and saw Professor Dumbledore, sat by the window.

"Sir? What happened to Sirius and Peter and Harry and the other children?" He tried to get up, and felt a little dizzy.

"Lie back down for a minute Remus. Peter unfortunately escaped, but so did Sirius, thanks to Harry and Hermione."

"Did I-"

"No, no one was hurt by you. The dementors on the other hand-" he trailed off as Remus let out a sigh. His worst nightmare hadn't come true.

"I resign." Remus said.

"And I refuse to accept. You are one of the best teachers I have found, and I was really hoping to break our string of bad luck. I'm sure your secret is safe with that three."

"I still endangered their lives. Doesn't matter what we do to try and stop it happening again, we said it would never happen before and it did."

"I still refuse to accept."

A few hours later Dumbledore returned, to give Remus the news that Snape had let his secret slip. This time the headmaster accepted the werewolf's resignation.


	6. Another death

After the events in the department of mysteries, the first person Albus Dumbledore sought out, after having sorted Harry out, was Remus Lupin. He found the man in Saint Mungo's, with Nymphadora Tonks, a cousin of the late Sirius Black. Remus was holding her as she cried, for the cousin she was only just getting to know, for the others who had lost a friend or godfather, and with guilt that she hadn't finished her aunt off, before she could finish Sirius.

When Remus looked up at him, Albus was almost glad to see his eyes shining with tears, and not the glazed look from when James and Lily had died.

"It's not like last time. I'm here this time" he muttered into Tonks' hair. If Tonks had been listening she would have been a little confused, last time?

But Dumbledore understood exactly what the younger man went, and left, reassured that Remus was going to cope with loss a lot better than he had fifteen years before. This time he knew he wasn't alone.


End file.
